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The house itself.

Leaving our first build…

We apologise for the interruption in our scheduled programme.    Normal service will be resumed shortly.    Lots has happened on the build which is great and as it should be and all that, but I just can’t write about that right now.    Instead my head is full of leaving Bramble.  34 years ago, over a third of a century, we put flesh on the skeleton of a house and we breathed life into it.     And it’s been a constant ever since.  Now we finally decided to
G and J

G and J in The house itself.

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General

Week 20 - Stress down, progress up.

Two weeks since the last blog and there’s a lot to cover - but lots of pictures too, so persevere!   The main issues and concerns two weeks ago were 1. how well the airtightness test would go, and 2. keeping ahead of the plasterers.     The good news is: both of those concerns can be consigned to the bin.   Airtightness As previously reported, we had engaged Aerobarrier to test, spray their magic mist, then retest the airtightness of our house.  Prior to their
Benpointer

Benpointer in General

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Static caravan site preparation

And so it begins

I have taken two weeks off work to prepare our site for our static caravan / shipping containers and also installation of the drainage field and Graf treatment plant.   The digger and dumper arrived on Monday and the Kubota was brand spanking new with < 1hr on the clock.   I wanted to tackle this all by myself, but I cannot grade to save my life, so I have enlisted the help of a local ground worker on an hourly rate.  He’s been a god send and made easy work of the required
General

Week 18 - Progress on many fronts

Week 18 - Progress on many fronts   It feels like the build has entered a different phase now that the structure is fundamentally in place and watertight so I am going to drop to fortnightly blogging, hopefully with enough progress to ensure there something to cover in each blog:   Since the last blog (week 16) we’ve been busy on a number of fronts, a lot of which is geared to being ready for the plasterers who are due to start on 8th October.   First fix electrics
Benpointer

Benpointer in General

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General

Cladding Complete, drainage in and general update

Weeks 40 to 56   So it’s been a year now since we started the build and I’m happy with our progress but perhaps more importantly I’m still enjoying it. If you have followed the blog from the beginning you might have thought this was going to be a quick build as the shell went up quick but don’t worry work is continuing as we expected at our own slower pace, we have no definite finish date but it would be nice to be in for winter next year.   The cladding is finally compl
Susie

Susie in General

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General

Week 16 - Heating, render, electric 1st fix, and... decisions, decisions

Generally a much less stressful week than last week with lots of great progress but all is not perfect - see below.   Heating Last week's drama getting the UFH pipes laid just in time for the screed pour seems like a distant memory but as there had not been time for Ken to fit the manifold and pressure test, he came on site on Sunday evening (roping in his Dad as a helper) to get that done.      Thanks Ken - and Ken's dad!  A neat job completed...  
Benpointer

Benpointer in General

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General

Week 15 - UFH, screed, and render base coat

As promised, I spared you a Week 14 blog due to our visit to Yorkshire for a wedding and catch-up with old friends.  It was lovely to do something unrelated to the house and it made us realise how all-consuming our build has become.  We will definitely try to have some more non-house time through the rest of the build.   That said, it’s back to the matter in hand:   UFH Two weeks ago the guys were battling through laying the floor insulation in preparation for laying the
Benpointer

Benpointer in General

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The house itself.

If you want to get ahead, get a hat…

That was an advertising slogan from the 40’s and 50’s, which persisted in popular culture into my childhood in the 60’s (I’m a wrinkly, but not that much of a wrinkly).  And oh boy, with the recent downpours we desperately needed a hat on the house.     As kids we used to turn the phrase around - “if you want to get a hat, get a head”.  That’s what counted for humour back then.  But like all my frivolous tool purchases over the years that turn out to be really useful if not vital durin
The house itself.

We need to be trussed up…

Blogging: an activity where the perpetrator converts trivia into prose and in doing so reorganises their own otherwise disordered mind.  Possible side effects: perpetrator enhancing feelings of self importance; boredom amongst those reading; history being rewritten.    I find it interesting to contemplate why I don’t have quite such a burning need to blog at the mo.  I’ve always enjoyed working with wood and metal and power tools.  And that’s what I’ve been playing at for the last thre
General

Week 13 - Floor insulation, electricity, battens, and… scaffold down!

Floor The main focus this week has been laying the DPM + 220mm PIR floor insulation + 50mm upstand insulation round all the walls, then the UFH perimeter expansion strips and the vapour separation layer ready for the UFH pipes.   It’s proved intricate work.  Ken our first fix plumber assisted by local builders Barry and Jordan together have been working hard to complete the task by the end of August so that the liquid screed can go down during the first week in September.  
Benpointer

Benpointer in General

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Moving

Getting there, and time to sell up

Don't Panic - we're not selling what we've been building.   Back at the end of April (I thought it was longer ago than that - time either slowed down or we sped up, not sure which) SWMBO had just had a toe joint fused together to try to resolve a long period of pain following the critical infection she got over 3 years ago. We're pleased to say that it seems to have done the trick, and she has now rejoined me in getting the house ready for habitation.   I left you all with an
BotusBuild

BotusBuild in Moving

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General

Week 12 - Windows, doors, battens, roof, …and more insulation.

Very busy again this week - we were probably running at the maximum people we can have on site without contractors getting in each other’s way.  On Thursday we had the carpenters, the insulation team, a roofer and the window installation team on site, and it’s not a very big site.     Windows and doors The main highlight of the week was the arrival of the windows and external doors on Thursday together with a team of four (from Ukraine, though the windows were made in Estonia).  T
Benpointer

Benpointer in General

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kitchen

August Update

Summer nearly over?!! That was quick! Weather has been brilliant though! So where are we 2 months on? Here we go:    Bathrooms are tiled and ready for plumbing the fixtures in. The plumber returned briefly and I now have a working toilet! Portaloo returned! Just no running water, well kinda! I got the water connected to the mains but it's not plumbed upstairs or anywhere yet. I put a speedfit valve on the 25mm mpde mains coming into the house so I can at least use it to fill buckets, b
mike2016

mike2016 in kitchen

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summer 2025

Phase 2 floor pour

Time moves on and so does the build, albeit much slower than most of the builds featured in blogs.   Over the past 4 months we have dug out, cleared and prepared our 2nd phase ready for the groundworks, as in all the stuff that goes in the ground, costs lots of money and is never to seen again.    The next wall to be replaced and the old roof to be removed. This is one of the original walls, but it only had 200mm foundation so was not saveable.    
LSB

LSB in summer 2025

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General

Week 11 - Solar PV panels.

A quieter week this week but good progress nonetheless.   The main build focus this week has been on the south-facing single pitch roof which is to be covered using in-roof solar panels with slates around the boundary, then zinc facias to match the rest of the roof.   It seems the zinc roof guys don’t do slate roofs and the slate roofers don’t do zinc, so two roofing teams required.  Fortunately, both teams have been excellent: professional, tidy, friendly and turning up when
Benpointer

Benpointer in General

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The house itself.

Nearly a complete walls up….

On your marks: Get set : Wait!   Day 1 of panel erecting was rained off.  Humph.  I tried to pretend to be human again by popping into town with J for a spot of bargain hunting (for stuff we don’t need, natch) but inside I’m still a self build automaton.  My recovery won’t really start till we move in methinks.   Next day we start the day by admiring my new paddling pools. The previous week I carefully swathed the piles of panels with tarps before it rained oodles.  Good theo
General

Week 10 - Membranes, cellulose, zinc roof.

A longer than usual blog - we’ve had a lot going on this week.    We definitely reached site capacity with five vans and seven contractors on-site on Thursday and Friday.   Seven pallets of cellulose bales arriving mid-week didn’t help space management either.     The whole week got fairly stressful but somehow we seem to have got through it.  Phew!   Membranes The plan was for the team from SW Insulation to fit the VCL membrane to the vaulted ceilin
Benpointer

Benpointer in General

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General

We have a plot!

After many years of searching, we finally have a plot!   Our offer on this plot was accepted in March 2024 and we've only just now completed. But we're excited that it's finally done and we can move forward.   Next steps:   We have an architect already and a set of draft plans. We'll be working to finalise these plans and take them to planning. The site has detailed planning permission already, so we'll just be looking to vary the design -- and not significantly so
AshleyFae

AshleyFae in General

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General

Week 9 - Zinc roof.

As mentioned last week, the zinc roofers asked if they could start a week early(!) and so, on Monday morning along they came - Brian and Tom from Wessex Metal Roofing in Salisbury.  The first couple of days were mainly rolling out long zinc profile sections from the back of their van, then these proceeded to be fixed on to the 18mm ply sheeting that Alan the Chippie had laid the previous week.     Three triple-glazed electric Veluxes arrived from the builders’ merchants (I f
General

Week 8 - And pause... or not.

Last week our timber frame structure shot up.  This week was supposed to be the second week of a two-week frame installation but the team finished on Tuesday, having worked through the weekend.  And off they went, but not before I persuaded them to stand still for 30 seconds for a snap for posterity.  So here they are: Brandon, Jake and Callum - Great work guys!     Their early finish allowed our chippie Alan to press on with the 18mm ply required over the roof for the zinc
Groundworks and Foundations

Still not quite to damp…

Forgive me holy Bill Dub, it has been many weeks since my last confession: and in that time I have uttered much profanity and at times, I have edged a small way towards despair.  I used to think I was good at working alone, and I sort of am when I have confidence that I have a good idea of what I am doing.  The other thing about working alone is that it’s dangerous - especially with net access and faceache marketplace.  Guess who now has a fridge freezer in the site hut (vital, darlings) and a b
General

Week 7 - We have a house!

…well, the shell of a house at least.   What a crazy week.   We chose the factory-built timber frame route because we like the idea that the shell goes up within a few weeks.  But the pace of progress this week has been startling.   The frame erection team of 3 arrived at 7:30am on Monday. A big yellow crane arrived at 8:00, with the frame arriving on an artic by 9:15.  First off: a careful check shows that the frame fits the footings. Hurray!  In fact the footings were withi
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